What’s with the title?
Translated to Basque language (Euskera), it means Trip to Barakaldo.
So, the question.. why Barakaldo?
The idea came after watching Nick doing it with Athletic Club. To avoid repetition, I chose to do it with a different team from the Basque province.
Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team founded in 1917 and based in Baracaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. For those of you who are unaware, since 1912 Athletic Bilbao have had a club transfer policy, whereby they can only sign either Basque-born players, or players who learned their football skills at a Basque club. The challenge here is to manage them while adhering to this policy, meaning that I can sign any players born in Basque Country, or graduates from Basque teams (such as Alaves, Real Sociedad, Eibar and Osasuna). I’m also going to allow myself to sign regens of any of those players.
Nick kindly shared on his twitter a list of eligible players which met the criteria and i added a few of my own that weren’t on that list, which might be featured alongside the series.
I loaded the Spanish, French (to pick those French players if needed) & German leagues
Goals? First season probably the best possible result is avoiding relegation. From then on, the idea is building up the squad and doing the best possible.
Withour further ado, let’s jump into it.
This is the squad we begin with
As you see, we only have one eligible player, Juan Zamarripa.
A quick look at his attributes tells us that he’s quite decent
There’s a lot of work to be done here, so let’s scout the market to see which players we can pick up:
He has everything in place for a defender.
Doesn’t even need to be introduced. Fundamental part of every team you pick in Segunda Division. Heading is especially nice in combination with a good corner taker.
Prodigal son? Well, Raul played in Barakaldo in the real world for this season so it’s good to have him here in the virtual world. Good young prospect
Born in Getxo, Vizcaya. Started out in Bermeo, also played in Castellon, Sestao (that’s why i remembered from his CM2 days) and Burriana. Young and capable goalkeeper.
In real life, this guy played in Barakaldo after Sestao went bust (back in 95/96 season). A nice option to play in midfield. Decent pace and creativity and quality passing.
A few days later, we have news from these group of lads.
Good!
Our first 5 signings came through.
Let’s carry on looking for players to bolster this squad.
My next 5 targets are:
Born in Santurtzi, Vizcaya.
Born in Berango, Vizcaya. In real life, played from 1996 to 1998 in Barakaldo
Born in Vizcaya, Bilbao. Prodigal son. This guy made his debut here in Barakaldo back in 1990. He was 21 years old then
Born in Portugalete, Vizcaya. In real life, played in Barakaldo from 2002 to 2004
Born in Eibar, Guipuzcoa
A few days later..
Awesome, we have 11 players now. The goalkeeper position seems to be well covered so we need to pick up more bodies in defense, midfield and attack.
My 5 next targets are:
Born in Bilbao, Vizcaya. Played in Athletic Bilbao and Zaragoza. He will surely gives good experience
Born in Tudela, Navarre. Product of the Bilbao youth team, never made the first cut in real life. In the game, it looks perfectly fit to play in parternship with someone like Zamarripa or Raul Calle
Player of great experience in Primera Division. Played in Real Sociedad, Barcelona and Deportivo La Coruña. A few quid has come our way and we have a little bit above his worth to bid for him.
Born in Azkoitia, Guipuzcoa. Played in Badajoz, Getafe and Benidorm.
Another experienced player that will come very handy in defence. Born in Pamplona, Navarre. Started in Osasuna, then Malaga and retired in Levante
A few days later, we have some news.
Awesome! With these 5, we now have a total of 16 players.
We’re still lacking a few more bodies, specifically a couple of midfielders and left full-backs position.
These are the chosen ones:
Born in Segura, Guipuzcoa. Played in Beasain, Sestao, Las Palmas and Eibar
A player born in this city, where he started his career. Then played in Benidorm, Orense, Hercules , Xerez and Almeria
Other than a lack of creativity and tackling, a pretty well-balanced midfielder. Born in Donostia, Guipuzcoa. Played in Alaves, Espanyol, Rayo Vallecano and basque teams Sestao, Eibar and Beasain
Surely their decisions will come after the next game, so it’s time to get the team set up.
My go-to tactic has become 4231, but given the current circumstances we will have to get a bit creative. I’ll use this until we can acquire some left full-backs.
Copa Del Rey 1st Round Leg 1:
Celta 3 – Barakaldo 0
The experiment didn’t work and against a solid Celta team, it was a pain to watch. They were in control throughout the entire game and we were lucky enough that they were only able to put three goals past our net.
A few days later, our signings join
Nice! With these additions, we’re up to 20 players. Main focus point now is another right full-back.
The only available choice in the market is:
Born in Navarre, Pamplona. Spent the majority of his career with Osasuna. Had brief stints in Castellon and Marbella
Game 1
Barakaldo 4 – Badajoz 0
This is how we will line up for the match
What a debut in Segunda Division. It’s a mauling at the Lassesarre stadium. Zamarripa completely unleashed, scoring a hat-trick and stunning Badajoz. A great day for the fans!
Game 2
Rayo Vallecano 3 – Barakaldo 1
Lineup changes:
Luis Garmendia for Daniel Barroso
Simply not our day. An own goal by Osman near the end of the game shatters any hope for a good result. Middleton picked up an injury so we’ll have to deal with that.
Copa Del Rey 1st Round Leg 2:
Barakaldo 4 – Celta de Vigo 2
A delightful victory in front of our crowd. Although Celta were up ahead twice in the score, we managed to claw our way back into it. It’s an early exit in the Copa Del Rey, but we displayed good football and a decent image among our supporters.
Game 2
Barakaldo 3 – Las Palmas 3
A little nervous about how this one can turn out, as Las Palmas recently advanced to the next round in Copa del Rey by beating Real Sociedad quite convincingly.
Let’s roll the ball!
My lads show some fire in the game though. Despite being 3-1 down in the second half, Bakero gave us a massive boost to claw our way back into the match. Even in the last five minutes we had a couple of shots deflected by Canales which could have easily meant the 4-3 in our favour.
Time to keep bolstering the squad. In this case, a defender:
Born in Azkoitia, Guipuzcoa. Product of Real Sociedad youth team, spent a good amount of years in Deportivo La Coruña where he was part of the team who won Copa del Rey and the Cup-Winners Cup. He’s wanted by Extremadura and Hercules, so it will be tough to get him. Fingers crossed
Yep, expected with the low reputation we have. Time for plan B then. *Looks in the excel sheet. Hmm, ok*. Let’s go get him!
Born in Pasaia, Guipuzcoa. Another good product of the Real Sociedad youth team. Went up to Primera Division with Celta de Vigo, also played in Osasuna and Toledo. We’ll have his answer after our next game
Game 3
Albacete 2 – Barakaldo 1
It’s a comfortable win for Albacete. Despite an equaliser from Zamarripa we struggled to find the grip of the match and it was Albacete who created most of the chances in the match. Hopefully we can improve our away form as there is a notorious difference compared to how we do it at Lassesarre.
Cool! No more defenders are needed for the time being.
A quick glance at the Players Released screen showed that this lad (brother of Rafael Alkorta) had been released from Athletic B (the Athletic Bilbao youth team). Capable of playing two positions, he’ll surely find a place with us. I’ll bid for him
Game 4
Barakaldo 3 – Sevilla 2
Lineup changes:
Gorka Sangroniz for Aitor Iru
A good performance overall. The early lead from Hibic is quickly neglected by Zamarripa. Uribarrena adds one more after a pass from Begiristain, and we lead at halftime. Briefly after starting the second half, Bakero with a powerful header puts us up 3-1. From the on, we didn’t create many more chances and Sevilla got closer. Despite the anxiety of an equaliser, they can’t make it and we take a valuable win.
Game 5
Logroñes 1 – Barakaldo 2
Woohoo! Our first away win of the season. We lead early through Uribarrena and Zamarripa leads us to an advantage at halftime after Morales had provisionally equalised the match.
Before leaving, I’ll show you the standings as of now:
Fine start, isn’t it?
So that wraps up our first episode of this save.
Tune in next wednesday, where we will cover from matchday 7 to 13. Cheers!
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